Take a Quick Look at Heath Ledger’s Joker Diary from THE DARK KNIGHT

The Dark Knight is one of the biggest films of the last five years, and while the Blu-ray has a good amount of special features, none of them focus on Heath Ledger. I can understand the omission since it probably would have seen exploitative at the time. But now that there’s been some distance from his death, we can respectfully approach the amount of work he put into his unforgettable portrayal of The Joker. But in the five years since the movie has been released, almost no material has surfaced, which is surprising since it’s more than likely that the Blu-ray would have an extra about his performance had he lived. But today, a brief video of Ledger’s “Joker Diary” has surfaced. I wish the video was longer and we could get a more detailed look at the pictures, but it does show how much work he put into his character. I know there are some who attribute his death to being too lost into his character, but I think that’s a facile explanation. Rather than speculate on his loss, we should simply appreciate his tremendous talent. Looking at this journal is part of that appreciation, and hopefully there’s more of his behind-the-scenes work out there waiting to be discovered.